Reclining chair with movable headrest



p 9, 1970 A. H. CRAWFORD 3,531,156

RECLINING (21mm WITH MOVABLE HEADREST I Filed July 26, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

ALLAN H. CRAWFORD Sept. 29; 1970 A. H. CRAWFORD RECLINING CHAIR WITH MOVABLE HBADREST Filed July 26, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ALLAN H'.. WK

CRAWFORD United States PatentOflice Patented Sept. 29, 1970 RECLINING CHAIR WITH MOVABLE HEADREST Allan H. Crawford, Amsterdam, N.Y., assiguor to Mohasco Industries, Inc., Amsterdam, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed July 26, 1968, Ser. No. 748,040 Int. Cl. A47c 1/037 U.S. Cl. 29761 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A reclining chair having a headrest located in a recess in the back of the chair and which is automatically elevated to head supporting position upon reclining movement of the chair and which is automatically returned to its nested position upon movement of the chair from its reclining position to its normal upright sitting position.

This invention relates to reclining chairs and more particularly to a reclining chair of the concealed headrest type, that is, a chair having a headrest which may be concealed in a nested position when the headrest is out of use and moved to an operative position upon reclining movement of the chair.

It is frequently desired from a styling viewpoint that chairs have low backs; yet it has been found that reclining chairs with low backs are relatively uncomfortable due to the fact that a person reclining in a chair has unsatisfactory support for his head. As a result, reclining chairs have tended to be almost exclusively of the high back type since it does not appear to have been possible to provide a satisfactory reclining chair having the appearance of a low back chair yet having the comfort of a high back chair.

An object of this invention is the provision of a reclining chair having a headrest which, depending upon the position of the chair, may be extended into head supporting position or nested in the back of the chair.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of a chair having a normally concealed headrest which is moved to its operative position automatically upon reclining movement of the chair and is moved to an unoperative concealed position automatically upon movement of the chair from any reclined position to its normal upright position.

The above and further objects, and the entire scope of applicability of the present invention, will become apparent from the detailed description herein given. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific example is given by way of illustration only, and, while indicating a preferred embodiment of the invention, is not given by way of limitation, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from such detailed description.

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of the reclining chair of the instant invention with the headrest in its concealed position.

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the reclining chair of the instant invention with the headrest in its extended position.

FIG. 3 is a side view with parts in section showing the headrest elevating mechanism in its nested position, the chair being in its normal upright sitting position.

FIG. 4 is a side view with parts in section showing the headrest elevating mechanism in its elevated position, the chair being in a reclined position.

As an illustrative embodiment of the headrest of the instant invention, I show it in use with a reclining lounger chair of the type disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 748,039, filed on even date herewith, reference to which may be had for a description of such a chair, and which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.

7 Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 of the instant disclosure, there is shown the headrest actuating structure carried on the right-hand side of the chair, it being understood that a similar linkage structure may, as is common in the art, be carried on the left-hand side of the chair.

An integral reclining chair linkage mechanism is supported by a framework comprising, in part, support members 21 and 24. To the linkage supporting means are fastened leg carrying side frame members such as the member 130, all as more fully described in the aforementioned copending application Ser. No. 748,039.

One end of a headrest actuating link 200 is pivotally connected by a pivot 38 to an upstanding portion 29 of the supporting member 24. The opposite end of the headrest actuating link 200 is connected by a pivot 202 to a toothed gear segment 204 which is pivotally carried by a. back mounting link 54 on a pivot 206.

A gear member 207 rotatably mounted on a stud 208 affixed to the back mounting link 54 meshes with the teeth of the segment 204. Pinned to the stud 208, for movement therewith, is a lower headrest carrier link 210. An upper headrest carrier link 212 is pivotally mounted on a pivot 214 at the upper extremity of the back mounting link 54. At their distal ends the lower carrier link 210 and the upper carrier link 212 are pivotally connected to a headrest mounting bracket 218. Secured to the headrest mounting bracket 218, by any suitable mode of attachment, is a headrest support 220 which carries at the top thereof an upholstered headrest 222. As shown in FIG. 3, the headrest and its related linkage mechanism are normally nested in a recess formed in the back structure 122 of the chair.

The operation of the headrest actuating link 200, when the chair moves from its upright sitting position of FIG. 3 to a reclined position, for example, the TV position of FIG. 4, is now described.

To recline the chair of FIGS. 1 and 3 from the normal upright sitting position to the reclined position of FIGS. 2 and 4, an occupant sitting in the chair merely grasps the arms of the chair and pushes himself rearwardly applying a rearwardly directed force to the seat and back, whereupon the seat and back tend to move as a unit from the position of FIGS. 1 and 3 to the positions of FIGS. 2 and 4. The seat and back continue to so move until the rear carrier link 35 abuts the stop 32, at which point the chair is in the TV position.

The movement of the chair and linkage mechanism, as described in the preceding paragraph, is in all respects similar to the movement of the chair of the aforementioned copending application Ser. No. 748,039, and reference may be had thereto for a fuller description.

As the seat and back move rearwardly, as above described, the pin 206 secured to the back mounting link 54 moves rearwardly from the position of FIG. 3 to that of FIG. 4, and pulls the link 200 in a clockwise direction about the pivot 38. Such pulling of the link 200 is due to the interconnection of the pin 206 and the link 200 by the sector 204.

Movement of the link 200 in the aforementioned clockwise direction constrains movement of the sector 204 in a clockwise direction about the pin 206, and, since the teeth of the sector 204 are in mesh with the teeth of the gear 207, the gear 207 is caused to rotate in a counterclockwise direction about the pin 208, thereby causing the lower headrest carrier link 210 to be moved in a counterclockwise direction about the pin 208. Such movement of the lower headrest carrier link 210 causes the headrest mounting bracket 218 and the upper headrest carrier link 212 to move from their nested positions of FIG. 3 to their extended positions of FIG. 4. As such movement occurs, the headrest support bracket 218 moves in a generally rearwardly, thence upwardly, and forwardly direction to ultimately place the upholstered headrest 222 in the head supporting position of FIG. 4, which position of the headrest is attained approximately simultaneously with the arrival of the carrier link 35 in abutting relationship with the stop 32, i.e., the TV stop.

When the chair is thus positioned, the pivots 38 and 59 are in coaxial alignment and, upon any further reclining movement of the chair, for example: movement of the chair from its TV position to a fully reclined position, as described in my copending application Ser. No. 748,039, there is no further substantial relative movement of the back mounting link 54 and the headrest actuating link 200.

Retraction of the headrest to its nested position occurs automatically upon return of the chair to its normal upright sitting position from its TV position, i.e., as the chair moves from the TV position of FIG. 4 to the position of FIG. 3, the headrest elevating linkage will be operated in a manner the reverse of that heretofore described to rotate the sector 204 counterclockwise and bring the headrest home.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A reclining chair comprising side frame members, a linkage assembly carried by said side frame members, a seat and primary backrest assembly supported on said linkage assembly for reclining movement relative to said side frame members, an auxiliary back member supported on said backrest assembly for movement relative to said back upon reclining movement of said chair, said auxiliary back member including cushion carrying support means, means for moving said support means from a first position wherein said cushion means is concealed at the rear of the chair and said support means conceals substantially the entire rear surface of said primary backrest to a second position wherein said cushion means is positioned above said back, said moving means including a pair of movable links connected to said support means and to said linkage assembly, first and second intermeshed gear means, said first means coupled to and operable with one of said movable links, said second means coupled to and operable with an actuator link, said actuator link being movable upon reclining movement of said chair to move said support means from its first position to its second position.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein, said actuator link is operable upon collapsing movement of said chair to move said support means from said second position to said first position to lower said cushion means into concealed position.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein, said seat and back are movable relative to each other upon reclining movement of said chair.

4. The invention of claim 3 including a movable footrest movable upon reclining movement of said chair from a first position closely adjacent the front of said chair to an extended position upon reclining movement of said chair.

5. The invention of claim 2 including a movable footrest movable upon reclining movement of said chair from a first position closely adjacent the front of said chair to an extended position upon reclining movement of said chair.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,976,915 3/1961 Spound 29761 2,996,332 8/1961 Kurtyka et al. 29761 3,024,064 3/1962 Spound 297-61 3,179,466 4/1965 Garrett 29761 X JAMES T. MCCALL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

